Tsunami: India not against joining UN-led efforts Tuesday, February 1 2005 14:04 Hrs (IST) - World Time -
Hyderabad:
India has denied reports that it is setting up a tsunami warning system for the Indian Ocean on its own because it is against joining a United Nations led efforts.
"The reports are not correct. We only said that we do not want to wait for the UN led system," Science Secretary V S Ramamurthi told reporters in Hyderabad.
"We would like to have a tsunami warning system as early as possible. If the UN takes three years to get all countries in the region agree to put up this system we cannot wait that long," he said on the sidelines of an international conference on "solid state hydrogen storage" in Hyderabad yesterday (Jan 31, 2005).
Ramamurthi said that both he and Science Minister Kapil Sibal, who had spoken at the January 21 meeting on tsunami at the Indian National Science Academy in New Delhi, were misquoted by the press, giving rise to needless controversy.
He said that India would definitely join the UN-led system "if it is going to come ahead of our proposed system".
Ramamurthi also dismissed reports that India was avoiding the UN efforts in order to keep its seismic and oceanographic data secret.
"This is also not true. In fact we have invited the Japanese next month to give us a demonstration of their simulation model using our data," he said. "Our data will be put in public domain," he added.
According to Ramamurthi, India has the capability to install the warning system on its own.
More News
